Can washing and sterilizing apparatus



Oct. 13, 1936. w, LENSCHOW v 2,057,152

CAN WASHING AND STERILIZING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1935 aapaaobaue l Q W 4 J/Z 77 7 07".- l C) 14056 Elerzsmkw 4 J o D Q h a a cu Patented Oct. 13, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CAN WASHING AND STERILIZING APPARATUS 9 Claims.

It is essential that cans in which milk is shipped be clean and sterile, a condition which now can be attained only with difficulty and through painstaking care on the part of the milk producer. The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, novel and inexpensive apparatus by means of which this can be accomplished easily and with certainty.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which may be utilized at times to wash cans and at other times to sterilize them, whereby washing may be done at leisure and then a sterilizing treatment be given each can just before milk is put in.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a suitable tank in which water may be heated to produce either hot water or steam or which may receive chemically treated water. Cans to be treated are hung in the receptacle so as to lie on their sides, means being provided to permit the escape of air that would otherwise be trapped in the cans and prevent the cleaning or sterilizing fluids from coming in contact with all parts of the in-. terior surfaces of the cans. The air-venting means may conveniently be a bracket the free end of which is adapted to be inserted in the can, the bracket being in the form of a tube open at the free end and having an outlet, that is located outside of and above the can when the lat-- ter lies in the receptacle. When the washing or treating medium is a liquid, such as hot water or chlorinated water, the free end of the bracket must lie in the highest point of the space within the can; whereby the air above the liquid can escape through the bracket after its exit at the mouth of the can has been closed by the liquid rising in the can. When the treating medium is gaseous, such as steam, the inlet end of the bracket should extend to the lowest point in the interior of the can.

The receptacle preferably has a hinged cover to conserve heat and keep in the steam when steam is the medium with which cans are being treated. Since the cans must be placed in and be again taken out of the receptacle in treating them, the cover may be utilized to support the cans and thus lower them into the receptacle when the cover is closed and lift them out again when the cover is raised.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying the present invention, the cover being open; Fig. 2 is a central, vertical, longitudinal 5 section, on a larger scale than Fig. 1, the cover being closed and having a milk can suspended therefrom; Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a section on the same plane as Fig. 2, illustrating a modification, only a fragment of the apparatus being shown.

Referring to the drawing, l represents a tank or receptacle open at the top and having an external flange 2 around the upper end. The tank or receptacle is set into the upper end of a shell or casing 3, open at both top and bottom; the flange on the receptacle resting on the upper edges of the sides of the casing. The receptacle and the casing are shown as being rectangular in horizontal section, the width of the casing increasing gradually from top to bottom so as to produce between the two long sides of the receptacle and the corresponding walls of the casing air spaces that are widest at the bottom and are pinched out at the top of the structure. The casing has posts 4 at the four corners, these posts being continued downward as supporting legs. The receptacle is not quite as deep as the casing, leaving space in the latter below the receptacle, in which space is located a gas burner 5. The bottom of the receptacle preferably has a flat, horizontal section in the center above the burner, as indicated at 6 the main side walls being joined to this central section by sloping wall sections 1.

In the particular arrangement shown the receptacle has a cover 8 which may comprise two facing sheets, 9 and Ill, of metal having interposed between them a layer H of asbestos. The cover is shown as being hinged at one end to the casing by hinges 12 which permit the cover to 40 rest on the flange 2 of the receptacle when swung down.

Overlying the cover and extending along the longitudinal center thereof is a strong bar l3 which projects beyond the cover at both ends. 45 The projection l4 of the bar at the free end of the cover serves as a handle for raising and lowering the cover. The projection [5 of the bar at the hinge end of the cover, which may be termed a tail, is bent outwardly through a small angle; and, therefore, since it engages with the outer face of the adjacent end wall of the casing when the cover is swung up, the tail allows the cover to tilt back a little, when open, as shown in Fig. 1, and thus be held open.

The receptacle is somewhat longer than a milk can such as indicated at A, Somewhat wider, and considerably deeper than the diameter of the body of the can. Therefore a milk can may be placed in the receptacle, lying on its side, and be wholly submerged in a body of liquid contained in the receptacle.

Fixed to the inner or under side of the cover, near the hinged end, is a bracket, an arm of which is adapted to enter the mouth of a can and support one end of the can while the other is hung from the cover in any suitable way. The bracket is shown as comprising an arm l6 standing at right angles to the plane of the cover, the arm comprising a nipple l7 passing through the cover and the bar I3. The nipple is held in place by a nut l8 on the outer end and a T coupling IS on the inner end. A short pipe section 20, screwed into the T in alignment with the nipple completes the arm N5 of the bracket. The second arm 2| of the bracketextends at right angles to the arm l6 and is connected to the latter by an elbow 22.- The arm 2| is also a piece of pipe, the free endof which, is shaped to extend toward and then parallel to the cover, as indicated at 23 and 24. The tubular arm 2| is open at its free end, whereas for some purposes the outer end of the arm I6 is closed by a cap 25. When this cap is employed, the stem of the T I9 is left open and forms the outlet from the interior of the hollow bracket.

Toward the free end of the cover, also at the longitudinal center of the latter, is a device to interlock with the rim at the bottom of a milk can whose open end hasbeen slipped over the arm 2| of the bracket. In the arrangement shown, this device comp-rises a hook 26 on one end of ashort chain 21 whose other end is at tached to an eye bolt 28 passing through the cover and the overlying bar. The hook may be magnetized, if desired, so that it will not slip on the rim of the can when applied thereto. It will be seenthat when the cover is open as it appears in Fig. 1, an upended can may be set over the arm 2| of the bracket and rest on the arm I6. Then, when the hook 25 is engaged with the rim at the bottom of the can, the can is held so securely as to permit the cover to be closed and opened and thus lay the can in the receptacle and again lift it out.

The parts are so proportioned that when a can is lowered into the receptacle it hangs below the horizontal plane of the outlet opening in the bracket. In other words, the can may be completely submerged in liquid which fills the receptacle to a level slightly below the outlet opening in the bracket, as for example, a level indicated by the broken line X in Fig. 2. As the can is lowered into the receptacle, the liquid enters the can, displacing the air which can escape through the open end of the can until a liquid seal is formed there because of the contracted neck of the can. However, the inlet end of the hollow bracket lies at the high point of the space in the can and, therefore, all the air that would otherwise be trapped in the can and prevent the liquid medium from coming in contact with the corresponding surfaces of the can, is free to escape through the hollow bracket. Consequently, whether it be washing water, or a sterilizing medium, the liquid in the receptacle misses no part of the interior surface of the can. In order to insure that the high point of the space within the can shall be coincident with the inlet end of the hollow bracket, the chain 21 is preferably made long enough to cause the axis of the can to incline downwardly from the open end of the can as the can hangs in the receptacle.

After the can has remained in the receptacle for its allotted time, the cover is raised, the can emptying itself in the process. The hollow bracket does not empty itself rapidly and therefore I provide on the inner or under side of the cover a shelf or wide trough 29 that lies below the outlet from the bracket when the cover is up. This shelf or trough catches the discharge from the bracket and deflects it back into the receptacle and thus keeps it off the floor.

In the use of the apparatus as heretofore described water for washing or sterilizing is heated by the burner to the proper temperature. Since the receptacle is enveloped in hot gases except at the top, and the top is closed by an insulating cover except while attaching a can to or removing it from the cover, there is little waste of heat energy. The washing can be done by the producer whenever his cans are returned. to him, and then they may be sterilized just before using them again. In fact, it requires such a short time to sterilize an otherwise clean can, that each can may be sterilized just before being placed in service and without leaving any opportunity for contamination between sterilization and use. Sterilization may also be successfully effected by means of chlorinated water, for example, where that is necessary.

If it be desired to sterilize with steam, instead of with hot water, the apparatus just described, with slight modifications, may be used to advantage. When the apparatus is to be used in this way, the cap 25 is removed and the normal air outlet in the T I 9 is closed by a plug 30, as shown in Fig. 4. Also, the arm 2| is turned about its long axis through an angle of 180 so that the inlet end thereof is at the low point in the space or chamber in the can when the latter is positioned in the receptacle. In the case of the ordinary milk can, it is preferable to provide a special bracket arm, such as the arm 3| in Fig. 4,

as a substitute for the arm 2|; the section 33 of the arm 3| being longer than the corresponding section 23 of the arm 2|.

The bracket having been modified in the manner just explained, in order to sterilize with steam, only a small quantity of water is placed in the receptacle so that steam will rapidlybe evolved when the burner is lighted. The can being in place and the cover closed. as illustrated in Fig. 4, the steam rises to the top of the receptacle, driving the air down. The air finds an outlet through the hollow bracket, so that the steam ceiling drops lower and lower until all the air that was originally in the can is driven out, insuring that the steam is given access to every part of the inner surface of the can.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, with a slight modification, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, and means on said member, including a bracket near the hinged endadapted to enter a milk can or the like, to support the can so that it will lie on its side in the receptacle when the said member is swung down and be lifted from the receptacle and inverted when the said member is swung up, said bracket being provided with a passage to permit the escape from the can of air that would otherwise be trapped in the can in advance of a treating fluid entering the can while in the receptacle.

2. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, and means on said member, including a bracket near the hinged end adapted to enter a milk can or the like, to support the can so that it will lie on its side in the receptacle when the said member is swung down and be lifted from the receptacle and inverted when the said member is swung up, said bracket being a tube open at its free end and having an outlet at a point which is higher than the free end and lies outside of the can when the can is in the receptacle.

3. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a cover hinged at one end to said receptacle, and means on the cover, including a tubular bracket open at its free end and adapted to enter a milk can or the like, to support the can in such a position that the can lies on its side in the receptacle when the cover is down and is lifted out of the receptacle and held upside down when the cover is raised, said bracket having an outlet at a point that is outside of a can on the bracket and above the can when the cover is down.

4. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, and means on said member, including a bracket near the hinged end adapted to enter a milk can or the like, to support the can so that it will lie on its side in the receptacle when the said member is swung down and be lifted from the receptacle and inverted when the said member is swung up, said bracket having at its inner end a lateral section adapted to extend into the angle between the shoulder and the body of the can, and the bracket having a passage, extending lengthwise therethrough to permit the passage of fluids through the same.

5. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a cover for said receptacle hinged thereto at one end, and means on the cover to support a milk can or the like in such a position that when the cover is closed the can lies on its side in the receptacle and when the cover is raised the can is lifted out of the receptacle and is held upside down, said means including a tubular bracket shaped to enter the reduced neck portion of a milk can and extend laterally in the interior of the can into proximity to the wall of the body portion of the can, the tube being open at the end adapted to lie within the can and having an opening at a point adapted to lie outside of the can to permit fluids to pass through the bracket 6. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and adapted to move either into a position in which it overlies the receptacle orinto a more or less upright position, and means on said member to support a milk can or the like so that it will lie on its side in the receptacle when said member overlies the receptacle and be held in an inverted position when said member is held more or less upright, said means including a tubular, open ended bracket adapted to enter the neck of a milk can and extend laterally within the can to a point near the wall of the main body of the can.

'7. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, a bracket secured to said member near the hinged end in position to lie within the receptacle when said member is swung down, said bracket having a part projecting laterally therefrom to enter the mouth of. a milk can, a flexible element connected at one end to said member toward the free end of the latter and adapted to extend down into the receptacle when said member is swung down, and a hook device on the free end of said flexible element for engaging with the flange around the bottom of a milk can engaged on said bracket.

8. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, a bracket secured to said member near the hinged end in position to lie within the receptacle when said member is swung down, said bracket having a part projecting laterally therefrom to enter the mouth of a milk can, an element connected at one end to said member toward the free end of the latter for swinging movements and adapted to extend down into the receptacle when said member is swung down, and a hook device on the free end of said swinging element for engaging with the flange around the bottom of a milk can engaged on said bracket.

9. In combination, a receptacle open at the top, a member extending across the top of the receptacle and hinged to the latter at one end, a bracket secured to said member near the hinged end in position to lie within the receptacle when said member is swung down, said bracket having a, art projecting laterally therefrom to enter the mouth of a milk can, an element connected at one end to said member toward the free end of the latter for swinging movements and adapted to extend down into the receptacle when said member is swung down, and means on the free end of. said swinging element for holding the bottom end of a milk can whose upper end is engaged on said bracket.

WALTER F. LENSCHOW. 

